Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
What is pink? a rose is pink
(1872)
Christina
Rossetti
(December 5, 1830–December 29, 1894)
| What is
pink? a rose is pink |
|
| By the
fountain's brink. |
|
| What is
red? a poppy's red |
|
| In its barley bed. | |
| What is blue? the sky is blue | 5 |
| Where the clouds float thro'. | |
| What is white? a swan is white | |
| Sailing in the light. | |
| What
is yellow? pears are yellow, |
|
| Rich
and ripe and mellow. |
10 |
| What is green? the grass is green, | |
| With small flowers between. | |
| What is violet? clouds are violet | |
| In the summer twilight. | |
| What is orange? why, an orange, | 15 |
| Just an orange! |
"What is pink? a rose is pink" Notes
6 thro': through
10 mellow:
 |
 |
Why were you born when
the snow was falling? You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling, Or when grapes are green in the cluster, Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster For their far off flying From summer dying. Why did you die when the lambs were cropping? You should have died at the apples’ dropping, When the grasshopper comes to trouble, And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble, And all winds go sighing For sweet things dying. |
5 10 |
Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872)
| How many seconds in a
minute? |
|
| Sixty and no more in
it. |
|
| How many
minutes in an hour? |
|
| Sixty for sun and shower. | |
| How many hours in a day? | 5 |
| Twenty -four for work and play. | |
| How many days in a week? | |
| Seven both to hear and speak. | |
| How many weeks in a
month? |
|
| Four, as the swift
moon runn'th. |
10 |
| How many months in a year? | |
| Twelve the almanack makes clear. | |
| How many years in an age? | |
| One hundred says the sage. | |
| How many ages in time? | 15 |
| No one knows the rhyme. |
—Christina Rossetti, “How many seconds in a minute?,” The Complete Poems,
edited by R. W. Crump and Betty S. Flowers, Penguin, 2001, p. 238.
| A pin has a head, but
has no hair; |
|
| A clock has a face,
but no mouth there; |
|
| Needles have eyes, but
they cannot see; |
|
| A fly has a trunk without lock or key; | |
| A timepiece may lose, but cannot win; | 5 |
| A corn-field dimples without a chin; | |
| A hill has no leg, but has a foot; | |
| A wine-glass a stem, but not a root; | |
| A watch has hands, but
no thumb or finger; |
|
| A boot has a tongue,
but is no singer; |
10 |
| Rivers run, though they have no feet; | |
| A saw has teeth, but it does not eat; | |
| Ash-trees have keys, yet never a lock; | |
| And baby crows, without being a cock. | |
—Christina Rossetti, “A pin has a head, but has no hair,” The Complete Poems,
edited by R. W. Crump and Betty S. flowers, Penguin, 2001, p. 240.
 |
 |
| Where innocent
bright-eyed daisies are, |
|
|
With blades of grass between, |
|
| Each daisy stands up
like a star |
|
| Out of a sky of green. | |
—Christina Rossetti, “Where innocent bright-eyed daisies are,” The Complete Poems,
edited by R. W. Crump and Betty S. Flowers, Penguin, 2001, p. 240.
Vocabulary
caesura
rhyme scheme
rhyme
rhythm
alliteration
consonance
tone
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Study Questions
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Response 1:
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Reference
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Reference
Rossetti, Christina. The Complete Poems. Edited by R. W. Crump and Betty S. Flowers, Penguin, 2001.
Further Reading
Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market and Other Poems. 1862. 2nd ed, Macmillan, 1865.
Rossetti, Christina. The Prince's Progress and Other Poems, 1866.
Rossetti, Christina. Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book. 1872. Illustrated by Arthur Hughes, Macmillan, 1907.
Rossetti, Christina. A Pageant and Other Poems. 1881.
Rossetti, Christina. Verses. 1893.
Hassett, Constance W. Christina Rossetti: The Patience of Style. U
of Virginia P, 2005.
Connor, Steven. "'Speaking
Likenesses': Language and Repetition in Christina Rossetti's Goblin
Market." Victorian Poetry, vol. 22, no. 4, 1984, pp.
439–48.
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Last updated August 16, 2020